Florida justices urged to weigh โunborn childrenโ issue
With the Florida Supreme Court deciding whether an abortion-rights constitutional amendment should go on the November ballot, Attorney General Ashley Moody's office and abortion opponents are urging justices to consider another part of the state Constitution that they say could apply to "unborn children."
Massachusetts voters become latest to try and keep Trump off ballot over Jan. 6 attack
Five voters in Massachusetts have become the latest to challenge former President Donald Trump's eligibility to appear on Republican primary election ballot in March, claiming he is ineligible to hold office because he encouraged and did little to stop the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Lawyers argue whether the Constitutionโs โinsurrectionโ clause blocks Trump from the 2024 ballot
Lawyers for a group of Colorado voters are focusing on the January 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol and former President Donald Trumpโs words and actions in a hearing that could determine whether the Constitutionโs insurrection clause bars Trump from running again for the White House.
Trump is 'not above the law,' prosecutors say in urging judge to let federal election case proceed
Federal prosecutors say Donald Trump is โnot above the lawโ as they are urging a judge to reject the former presidentโs efforts to dismiss the case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Divided Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action in college admissions, says race canโt be used
A divided Supreme Court has struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.
Chileans resoundingly reject new progressive constitution
Chileans have resoundingly rejected a new constitution to replace a charter imposed by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet 41 years ago, dealing a stinging setback to President Gabriel Boric who argued the document would usher in a progressive era.
House passes domestic violence bill, pushes issue to Senate
The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act passed 244-172 with 29 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the legislation. The White House announced its support earlier Wednesday for reauthorizing VAWA, which aims to reduce domestic and sexual violence and improve the response to it through a variety of grant programs. AdPresident Joe Biden introduced the original Violence Against Women Act in June 1990 when serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A subsequent version was eventually included in a sweeping crime bill that President Bill Clinton would sign into law four years later. Congress has reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act three times since.
EXPLAINER: What is the impact of racially diverse juries?
FILE - In this Feb. 8, 2021 file photo, A mural of George Floyd is seen in George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. DOES THE U.S. CONSTITUTION REQUIRE DIVERSE JURIES? In the 1940 decision Smith vs. Texas, the high court ruled unanimously that the Constitution prohibits racial discrimination in the selection of grand juries, finding it โat war with our basic concepts of a democratic society and a representative government.โWHY ARE DIVERSE JURIES MORE LIKELY TO DELIVER FAIRER VERDICTS? โWith diverse juries, there are more vantage points,โ he said. Other studies have found similarly positive effects on juries, even if just one or two non-white jurors are included with a mostly white jury.
Democrats: Trump aimed โloaded cannonโ of supporters at Capitol
The impeachment trial represents a remarkable reckoning with the violence in the Capitol last month, which the senators witnessed firsthand, and with Trumpโs presidency overall. AdThe impeachment trial, Trumpโs second, begins in earnest on Feb. 9. โThe only honorable path at that point was for President Trump to accept the results and concede his electoral defeat. Instead, he summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue,โ the Democrats wrote in an 80-page document. โThere is no โJanuary Exceptionโ to impeachment or any other provision of the Constitution,โ the Democrats wrote.
Capitol siege by pro-Trump mob forces questions, ousters
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. The tragedy deepened late Thursday as a Capitol police officer injured in the melee died, the fifth death related to the riot. The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that Officer Brian D. Sicknick died from injuries sustained responding to the riot on Wednesday at the Capitol. The procedure allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unfit for office. Black lawmakers, in particular, noted the way the mostly white Trump supporters were treated.
Pence defies Trump, says he canโt reject electoral votes
Vice President Mike Pence announces the election of President and Vice President as he officiates a joint session of the House and Senate to confirm Electoral College votes at the Capitol, early Thursday, Jan 7, 2021, in Washington. Pence acknowledged that reality in a lengthy statement Wednesday laying out his conclusion that a vice president cannot claim โunilateral authorityโ to reject states' electoral votes. Pence's move was an expected outcome, but one that carved a dramatic fissure between Trump and Pence, his once most loyal lieutenant. He repeatedly returned to Pence throughout his speech, voicing frustration as he tried to pressure the vice president to fall in line. โThe violence and destruction taking place at the US Capitol Must Stop and it Must Stop Now,โ Pence later tweeted.
Does Trump have power to pardon himself? It's complicated
WASHINGTON โ President Donald Trump has declared that he has the โabsolute rightโ to issue a pardon to himself. The Constitutionโs text โ affording the president โpower to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment" โ can be read to suggest that the Founding Fathers envisioned some sort of limitations on a presidentโs pardon power. The question of whether Trump will do it, though, is as unsettled as the question of whether he can. But, Tushnet said, Trump's lawyers could conceivably try to invoke double-jeopardy arguments to claim that a federal pardon should bar any New York state prosecution based on the same conduct. On the federal level, a self-pardon obviously handcuffs the Justice Department under President-elect Joe Biden from pursuing any federal case against Trump.
High court takes up census case, as other count issues loom
FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2020, file photo an American flag waves in front of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments over whether the Trump administration can exclude people in the country illegally from the count used for divvying up congressional seats. It's the latest, and likely the last, Trump administration hard-line approach to immigration issues to reach the high court. Will the quality of the census data be hurt by a shortened schedule, a pandemic and natural disasters? Will a lame-duck Senate pass legislation that could extend deadlines for turning in census numbers?
Seattle, Portland, New York sue over Trump's 'anarchy' label
New York, Seattle and Portland, three cities recently labeled "anarchist jurisdictions" by the U.S. Justice Department, are suing to to invalidate the designation and to fight off the Trump administration's efforts to withhold federal dollars. โThe Trump administrationโs political threats against Seattle and other Democratic cities are unlawful and an abuse of federal power," Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a news release announcing the federal lawsuit. The Justice Department last month identified New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle as three cities that could have federal funding slashed. โTheyโve actually taken this anarchist designation and started to include it in applications for federal grants,โ Johnson said. As much as $12 billion in federal money affecting health, transportation and law enforcement programs could be at stake, Johnson said.
Her words: Amy Coney Barrett on faith, precedent, abortion
___โI donโt think abortion or the right to abortion would change. Itโs never appropriate for a judge to impose that judgeโs personal convictions, whether they derive from faith or anywhere else on the law.โ โ 2017 Senate hearing. โ 2017 Senate hearing. Its members might be seen as partisan rather than impartial and case law as fueled by power rather than reason.โ โ Texas Law Review. If she is not sure enough, the preference for continuity trumps.โ โ Texas Law Review.
What happens if a candidate for president dies?
But what happens if a candidate for president dies before Election Day? Here are some questions and answers about what might happen if a presidential candidate dies, before or after the election:CAN POLITICAL PARTIES REPLACE A CANDIDATE WHO DIES? Instead, they are voting for slates of electors who will pick the president and vice president as members of the Electoral College. โThey are going to have to figure out what to do with (Electoral College) votes cast for a candidate who has died.โIf the winning candidate dies before the Electoral College meets, the electors could coalesce around a replacement candidate recommended by the party, perhaps the vice presidential candidate. If no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes, the House chooses the president and the Senate chooses the vice president, in a process spelled out in the Constitution.
Her words: Amy Coney Barrett on faith, precedent, abortion
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)Some notable quotes from Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, a former Notre Dame law professor and current judge on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Itโs never appropriate for a judge to impose that judgeโs personal convictions, whether they derive from faith or anywhere else on the law.โ โ 2017 confirmation hearing. โ 2017 confirmation hearing. Its members might be seen as partisan rather than impartial and case law as fueled by power rather than reason.โ โ Texas Law Review. If she is not sure enough, the preference for continuity trumps.โ โ Texas Law Review.
What happens if the US election is contested?
Even if the election is messy and contested in court, the country will have a president on Inauguration Day. But states' electoral votes have to be cast on Dec. 14. When the electors meet, the candidate who gets at least 270 of the 538 electoral votes wins. But what happens if election issues still prevent a winner from being named? In a contingent election, House members have to choose among the three people with the most electoral votes.
Court: Secret videos can't be used in Kraft massage case
The state 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Kraft's rights were violated under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Police say the recordings show Kraft and other men engaging in sex acts with women and paying them. Police say they twice recorded Kraft, a widower, paying for sex acts at the Orchids of Asia massage parlor. He said detectives had to fully record all massages, because the sex acts happened at their conclusion and 95% of male customers received one. DeSousa said even if the court finds police violated innocent customers privacy rights, the Supreme Court has ruled that in most circumstances, only improperly seized evidence should be thrown out.
Oklahoma voters to decide whether to expand Medicaid
OKLAHOMA CITY Oklahoma voters will decide Tuesday whether to expand Medicaid to tens of thousands of low-income residents and become the first state to amend their Constitution to do so. While an increasing number of Oklahoma voters took advantage of mail-in voting for Tuesday's primary, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. statewide. Amending the Oklahoma Constitution will prevent the Republican-controlled Legislature, which has resisted Medicaid expansion for a decade, from tinkering with the program or rolling back coverage. Oklahoma is one of 14 states, along with neighboring Texas and Kansas, that have not expanded Medicaid under the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority has projected that about 215,000 residents would qualify for a Medicaid expansion, for a total annual cost of about $1.3 billion.
California affirmative action vote prompts 'tough' debate
What am I to do, without even having the decency of a conversation to discuss the difficulties of race? Low asked his colleagues on Wednesday. If we cant even have these tough conversations, what do you think is going to happen to the electorate?" Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, who authored the repeal, apologized on the Assembly floor just before the vote for not contacting lawmakers individually. This is not the same California that voted on this 25 years ago, said Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, a Democrat from Los Angeles. California State University, the nations largest four-year public university with 23 campuses and nearly 482,000 students, has a student body that is nearly 75% people of color.
'Hands-free' Florida bill would allow drivers to 'tap' cellphones
ORLANDO, Fla. โ One day after Florida state Rep. Jackie Toledo announced she will file a bill that would ban Florida drivers from holding their phones while behind the wheel, she clarified that drivers would be allowed "one tap." Toledo (R-Tampa) said drivers could tap their phone to answer or decline a call but not program an address, Google something or send text messages. News 6 traffic safety expert Trooper Steve Montiero answered questions from viewers and readers about the proposed law. Do you have a question about traffic safety, roadways or law enforcement? Click here to submit questions for News 6 traffic safety expert Steve Montiero.